


I Can Hear the Bells

by RebelPaisley



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue, Power Rangers Lost Galaxy
Genre: Complete, Intervention, M/M, Mutual Pining, One Shot, Trapped In A Closet
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-19
Updated: 2016-04-19
Packaged: 2018-06-03 03:46:24
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,398
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6595285
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RebelPaisley/pseuds/RebelPaisley
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Kai may or may not have a certain fondness for Carter. </p>
<p>Leo tries to play wingman and traps them in a closet. Because, you know, that always works.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Can Hear the Bells

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place sometime after ‘Trakeena's Revenge’.

It was a guaranteed function of life that Leo would always have horrible ideas.

Kai had resigned himself to it, had learned to embrace it, to work with it, because like it or not, Leo was the guy who got to call the shots. Because of this, it was pointless to bring to light the numerous flaws said terrible plans entailed, because Leo wasn't going to change his mind _anyway,_ and Kai had better ways he could spend his time.

For instance, trying not to be murdered by the various monsters that were out for his blood.

_That_ was a very high priority on his list.

Even when informed of the increased likelihood of near-death experiences as a result of their leader's recklessness, Leo still felt disinclined to listen to Kai’s superior advice, so the blue ranger resigned himself to a harrowing year of heart attacks and many destroyed stress balls.

The good news was that they had managed to survive, and subsequently, so did the majority of Terra Venture's inhabitants.

The bad news was that Leo had become increasingly fond of his "brilliant" schemes and chose to employ them whenever he saw fit. Which _should_ have been Kai's cue to lock the red ranger away from the rest of humanity before the brunette’s desire to "help" came back to bite him in the ass.

Unfortunately, Kendrix had been very insistent on the whole _"friends-don't-imprison-friends"_ thing (which didn’t seem to have bothered _Leo_ all that much) so Kai had let the matter drop.

Clearly, that was not a wise decision to make.

Kai had never hated Leo as much as he did at this exact moment, and on a similar note, he had never hated door locks as much either.

The trapped-in-the-closet jokes from Damon were going to be unavoidable, and aggravating, but mostly unavoidable. When Kai escaped from this nonsense, he was going to pay Leo back tenfold on that fact alone. The resolution did little to help with the matter at hand, but it did take some of the edge off Kai's anger, his mind brewing over possible revenge plans.

To his credit, Carter seemed to be completely unphased by this turn of events, to the that point that it suggested he was almost regularly accustomed with being locked in a closet. His temperament stirred up so many conflicting emotions in Kai that he had to physically pinch himself just so he'd stop acting like a teenage girl.

At least Leo had taken the light bulb, so Kai was granted the dignity of not having his private freak out clearly broadcasted to the other ranger present in the indescribably small closet that Kai may-or-may-not have the beginnings of feelings for.

This was ridiculous, and stupid, and so completely _Leo_ that Kai just wanted to rip out his hair in frustration from how insanely unsubtle it was. This was a horrible plan, which was why it was Leo's, and Kai wished he could go back in time to the moment where he thought talking to the red ranger about his ‘possible attraction’ was a good idea and just punch himself in the throat, because no, it really wasn't.

It was all Carter's fault anyway. He had to go and be all charming and friendly and mild-mannered and so obviously endearing with barely any effort and completely oblivious to these facts. He sported this kind of quiet humility and carried confidence with him like it was a matter of breathing and had this perfect wispy hair that Kai had to forcibly restrain himself from reaching out to touch. In a way it was a blessing that the darkness hid those stupid blue eyes that were stupidly gorgeous and a smile that was dangerously exhilarating and Kai had only known the Lightspeed ranger for roughly two days and those two days were better than his last two _years_.

There had to be a universal law out there that said people were not allowed to be this good looking, because Kai had spent the first three minutes after being introduced to Carter fighting the urge to make out with the other man's cheek bones, as though that were possible, and then the _next_ three minutes trying to think of a way to justify it (because _that_ wasn't creepy or unsettling _at all_ ).

Stupid Carter.

Stupid Carter and his stupid muscles.

Yes, they _were_ separate entities that required particular distinction. Kai didn’t make the rules, he was just unspeakably frustrated by them.

_Damn it_ , Kai hated this. He was too smart to succumb to these kinds of things. He had known going in that this was just a team-up, that his team had to wrap up some loose ends and then they would leave and Carter's team would stay and protect the Earth because that was what Power Rangers _did_. After this, Kai wouldn’t see him again. Or if he did, it would probably be for _another_ team up, and it was difficult to work in moments of bonding when they were fighting for humanity’s survival.

That was all this was, that was all that was going to happen. It was indisputable.

So whatever _insanity_ had grabbed a hold of Kai and urged him to express any interest whatsoever in _any_ of the Lightspeed Rescue team was really starting to wreck his life. Because while Leo had the best intentions, this wasn't going to end well for anybody. Especially considering the fact that Kai was pretty sure Carter has his eyes set on Dana, and Kai would have trouble competing with a _toaster_ , let alone an intelligent, competent, and incredibly attractive female.

Kai had been doomed from the start, but Leo was Leo and he didn't stop fighting even when all sides had agreed the battle wasn't going to happen in the first place, On that stubbornness alone, Leo wasn’t going let them out of the closet, even if Kai had stooped to begging.

Had there been at least a hint of success with that plan, Kai would have swallowed his pride and gone through with it, but he knew better from experience.

On the other side of their narrow closet, Carter shifted uncomfortably. If Kai pressed himself any further into the wall behind him, he was going to become one with the architecture. It didn't seem to do much good, but the sorry attempt to give the other ranger space brought Kai some form of consolation. At least he was _trying_ to make this less awkward than it already was.

Seriously, how could a closet this miniscule have any kind of useful functionality? It was illogical.

Carter shifted again, this time closer. It was tempting, unspeakably so, for Kai to pretend to lose his balance. To ‘stumble’ into the other ranger’s side. It wouldn’t offer much, but the chance to feel Carter’s biceps, even briefly, held its own allure.

Kai banished the thought as suddenly as it had arisen – the whole ordeal making him feel base and vulgar – and spent another few seconds fruitlessly wishing that this stupid indulgence could only pertained to physical attraction. Were it only that, things would be _easy_ , but instead, Kai couldn’t stop thinking about how Carter had acted with that young girl they had saved, how easily he had talked to her, how understanding he had been.

It was almost like something out of bad children’s television, something so ridiculously noble. As much as he wanted to dismiss it, Kai couldn't help but think of what a great dad Carter was going to make, how well he'd treat his own children-

Typical. Now Kai was envisioning a hypothetical marriage with the guy he'd met two days ago. Even for him, it was undeniably unbalanced. Best to focus on more productive things.

With that, Kai went back to trying to shove himself into his corner of the closet while simultaneously counting the minutes until his mind would finally short-circuit and explode. It had to be happening soon.

Beside him, Carter fidgeted again, because the universe hated Kai that way.

The red ranger finally broke his silence. "Are you okay?"

_Me?_ Kai thought, sarcasm an almost natural inflection, _Why, I'm just **grand**_.

Except that probably wasn’t the most welcoming of responses, so Kai settled for just nodding.

When the silence continued to drag on, he remembered how the darkness cloaked his physical movements, and surrendered himself to verbal communication.

"Yeah," he coughed.

While he had tried for a confident tone, he failed so badly that he couldn’t help but wince. It was not a response that would kindle any sort of confidence. He was losing it. Whatever ‘it’ was.

A grip met his shoulder – Carter’s, probably attempting for comfort in a completely platonic way, one ranger to another. Kais’ mind decided to bypass that fact as her marveled at the strength of Carter’s hand. It took him into such uncharted territories that he had to remind himself to breathe while he unsuccessfully attempted to quell his rebellious libido into submission, ultimately failing at the latter goal.

If Kai weren’t so frustrated with Leo, he would be singing praises for the missing light bulb – he doubted his current expression was anywhere in the area of flattering or composed.

"I'm fine," Kai assured.

It would have been more successful had he sounded remotely ‘fine’, which unfortunately, he did not.

This was pathetic, he seemed to have lost all capacity to act in his usual manner, it was a though he couldn’t remember how to be _Kai_ anymore.

The agitated part of his mind sent its condolences of this fact by playing the world's smallest violin – charming, that he could manage sarcasm even in a position such as this.

He truly owed his brilliant mind a round of applause for such perseverance.  

Subconsciously, Kai accidentally released a growl, the frustration of the evening finally building into an audible cry of displeasure.

Of course, this did not do much for Carter.

The other ranger stilled at the sound, Kai stilled at the sound, and from that point they shared one of the world’s most painfully awkward silences. It was, in itself, almost artful.

Eventually, Carter broke the quiet by shuffling closer to Kai (perhaps Kai had been off-Earth so long that was the normal etiquette when dealing with this sort of thing), violating his personal boundary further than the tiny closet had already forced him to. It was teasing, but Kai couldn’t fault the ranger for it, not when his next question was so completely sincere.

"Are you claustrophobic?"

Carter seemed to mean it, he really did.

It was- conflicting. That stupid noble concern was slowly driving Kai insane made him want to punch something.

He managed to restrain himself, but by the barest margin.

"No," Kai bit out, gruff and temperamental.

It was pointless to pretend otherwise, no one would have believed it.

At this Carter sighed – legitimately _sighed_ – and made an effort to give Kai some space.

The blue Lost Galaxy ranger found himself fighting off a disappointed pout. So he was at that level of pathetic. How quaint.

Even if Carter couldn't see him, Kai should at least _try_ to act like an adult. On principle.

Carter sighed again. "Dana shouldn't have locked us in here in the first place."

It had been a mutter, but a surprisingly irritated one. It was the first indication of agitation since this affair had started, and-

The words caught up to Kai.

"It was Leo," the blue ranger corrected, still bewildered as to why Carter would think _Dana_ of all people would have locked them up (true, they hadn't seen who had done it, but this had Leo written _all_ over it).

This time, it seemed to be Carter's turn for confused silence.

Eventually he broke it, "Look, this is my fault," Carter's tone was apologetic, but very sure of itself. As though stating an undisputed fact. "This is just her…bizarre way of helping." At this point, Kai finally detected the hint of nervousness in Carter's tone that he hadn't noticed before. "I'm sorry."

It was possible at that exact moment Kai had gone just a _tiny_ bit insane. Or maybe he had started suffering from lack of oxygen, or Leo's stupidity had finally rubbed off on him, but- Well, for whatever reason, he figured if they were both trapped in a closet by their friends (though it was definitely Leo), like something out of a ridiculously cheesy B-movie, he might as well get at least one attempted-kiss in.

It was illogical, but nothing about this situation screamed ‘reasonable responses’.

With that flimsy justification, Kai grabbed Carter by the shoulders and pulled him in close before he had a chance to change his mind, mashing their lips together in the most stupidly-attempted kiss of his entire life.

When Carter immediately reciprocated, Kai decided that maybe he didn't hate Leo all that much after all, and just _maybe_ he'd allow the brunette to survive this one.

But only because he was feeling so generous.

-:-:-:-:-:-

When the silence in the closet eventually turned into a specific kind of noise no proper gentleman ever spoke of, Leo threw Dana a quick wink and unlocked the door, leaving the two love birds to their business. The pink Lightspeed ranger returned the gesture with a mischievous smile of her own, and tucked the pilfered light bulb into a nearby bin for later retrieval. She accepted Leo's arm when he offered it with grace, and they left the room in a comfortable silence that only two true evil geniuses could appreciate, taking satisfaction that their work there was done.

The world could thank them for saving humanity from drowning in ridiculous waves of sexual tension.

_You're welcome, world._

Leo was pretty sure Kendrix was already planning the wedding, which would have seemed a bit extreme if Kai and Carter weren't so obviously stricken with each other as everyone else knew they were.

The red ranger simply shrugged at the thought, gently elbowing Dana as conspirators often did.

It was a really good thing that Kai had Leo to look after him; the other ranger would probably be dead by now if it weren’t for Leo’s genius.

_You're welcome, Kai_

He could imagine his teammate's protests in his mind, but - as he normally did - Leo didn't give them any thought.

He was just awesome like that.

**Author's Note:**

> I don't think either Lost Galaxy or Lightspeed Rescue is a bad kids tv show. Just clearing that up.
> 
> Until next time :)


End file.
